diff --git a/pkg/querier/queryrange/limits.go b/pkg/querier/queryrange/limits.go
index e6f1eb38b0..e88ad3e7df 100644
--- a/pkg/querier/queryrange/limits.go
+++ b/pkg/querier/queryrange/limits.go
@@ -34,11 +34,13 @@ import (
 )
 
 const (
-	limitErrTmpl          = "maximum of series (%d) reached for a single query"
-	maxSeriesErrTmpl      = "max entries limit per query exceeded, limit > max_entries_limit (%d > %d)"
-	requiredLabelsErrTmpl = "stream selector is missing required matchers [%s], labels present in the query were [%s]"
-	limErrQueryTooManyBytesTmpl   = "the query would read too many bytes (query: %s, limit: %s). Consider adding more specific stream selectors or reduce the time range of the query"
-	limErrQuerierTooManyBytesTmpl = "query too large to execute on a single querier, either because parallelization is not enabled, the query is unshardable, or a shard query is too big to execute: (query: %s, limit: %s). Consider adding more specific stream selectors or reduce the time range of the query"
+	limitErrTmpl                             = "maximum of series (%d) reached for a single query"
+	maxSeriesErrTmpl                         = "max entries limit per query exceeded, limit > max_entries_limit (%d > %d)"
+	requiredLabelsErrTmpl                    = "stream selector is missing required matchers [%s], labels present in the query were [%s]"
+	limErrQueryTooManyBytesTmpl              = "the query would read too many bytes (query: %s, limit: %s); consider adding more specific stream selectors or reduce the time range of the query"
+	limErrQuerierTooManyBytesTmpl            = "query too large to execute on a single querier: (query: %s, limit: %s); consider adding more specific stream selectors, reduce the time range of the query, or adjust parallelization settings"
+	limErrQuerierTooManyBytesUnshardableTmpl = "un-shardable query too large to execute on a single querier: (query: %s, limit: %s); consider adding more specific stream selectors or reduce the time range of the query"
+	limErrQuerierTooManyBytesShardableTmpl   = "shard query is too large to execute on a single querier: (query: %s, limit: %s); consider adding more specific stream selectors or reduce the time range of the query"
 )
 
 var (
@@ -333,7 +335,9 @@ func (q *querySizeLimiter) guessLimitName() string {
 	if q.limitErrorTmpl == limErrQueryTooManyBytesTmpl {
 		return "MaxQueryBytesRead"
 	}
-	if q.limitErrorTmpl == limErrQuerierTooManyBytesTmpl {
+	if q.limitErrorTmpl == limErrQuerierTooManyBytesTmpl ||
+		q.limitErrorTmpl == limErrQuerierTooManyBytesShardableTmpl ||
+		q.limitErrorTmpl == limErrQuerierTooManyBytesUnshardableTmpl {
 		return "MaxQuerierBytesRead"
 	}
 	return "unknown"
diff --git a/pkg/querier/queryrange/querysharding.go b/pkg/querier/queryrange/querysharding.go
index 8e2a98b924..71bdc8e9aa 100644
--- a/pkg/querier/queryrange/querysharding.go
+++ b/pkg/querier/queryrange/querysharding.go
@@ -97,7 +97,7 @@ type astMapperware struct {
 	maxShards int
 }
 
-func (ast *astMapperware) checkQuerySizeLimit(ctx context.Context, bytesPerShard uint64) error {
+func (ast *astMapperware) checkQuerySizeLimit(ctx context.Context, bytesPerShard uint64, notShardable bool) error {
 	tenantIDs, err := tenant.TenantIDs(ctx)
 	if err != nil {
 		return httpgrpc.Errorf(http.StatusBadRequest, err.Error())
@@ -110,7 +110,13 @@ func (ast *astMapperware) checkQuerySizeLimit(ctx context.Context, bytesPerShard
 
 		if bytesPerShard > uint64(maxBytesRead) {
 			level.Warn(ast.logger).Log("msg", "Query exceeds limits", "status", "rejected", "limit_name", "MaxQuerierBytesRead", "limit_bytes", maxBytesReadStr, "resolved_bytes", statsBytesStr)
-			return httpgrpc.Errorf(http.StatusBadRequest, limErrQuerierTooManyBytesTmpl, statsBytesStr, maxBytesReadStr)
+
+			errorTmpl := limErrQuerierTooManyBytesShardableTmpl
+			if notShardable {
+				errorTmpl = limErrQuerierTooManyBytesUnshardableTmpl
+			}
+
+			return httpgrpc.Errorf(http.StatusBadRequest, errorTmpl, statsBytesStr, maxBytesReadStr)
 		}
 
 		level.Debug(ast.logger).Log("msg", "Query is within limits", "status", "accepted", "limit_name", "MaxQuerierBytesRead", "limit_bytes", maxBytesReadStr, "resolved_bytes", statsBytesStr)
@@ -168,7 +174,7 @@ func (ast *astMapperware) Do(ctx context.Context, r queryrangebase.Request) (que
 	level.Debug(logger).Log("no-op", noop, "mapped", parsed.String())
 
 	// Note, even if noop, bytesPerShard contains the bytes that'd be read for the whole expr without sharding
-	if err = ast.checkQuerySizeLimit(ctx, bytesPerShard); err != nil {
+	if err = ast.checkQuerySizeLimit(ctx, bytesPerShard, noop); err != nil {
 		return nil, err
 	}
 
diff --git a/pkg/querier/queryrange/querysharding_test.go b/pkg/querier/queryrange/querysharding_test.go
index 1f0b424945..77c04088ab 100644
--- a/pkg/querier/queryrange/querysharding_test.go
+++ b/pkg/querier/queryrange/querysharding_test.go
@@ -208,7 +208,7 @@ func Test_astMapper_QuerySizeLimits(t *testing.T) {
 			desc:                     "Non shardable query too big",
 			query:                    `sum_over_time({app="foo"} |= "foo" | unwrap foo [1h])`,
 			maxQuerierBytesSize:      10,
-			err:                      fmt.Sprintf(limErrQuerierTooManyBytesTmpl, "100 B", "10 B"),
+			err:                      fmt.Sprintf(limErrQuerierTooManyBytesUnshardableTmpl, "100 B", "10 B"),
 			expectedStatsHandlerHits: 1,
 		},
 		{
@@ -224,7 +224,7 @@ func Test_astMapper_QuerySizeLimits(t *testing.T) {
 			query:               `count_over_time({app="foo"} |= "foo" [1h])`,
 			maxQuerierBytesSize: 10,
 
-			err:                      fmt.Sprintf(limErrQuerierTooManyBytesTmpl, "100 B", "10 B"),
+			err:                      fmt.Sprintf(limErrQuerierTooManyBytesShardableTmpl, "100 B", "10 B"),
 			expectedStatsHandlerHits: 1,
 		},
 		{
@@ -240,7 +240,7 @@ func Test_astMapper_QuerySizeLimits(t *testing.T) {
 			query:               `count_over_time({app="bar"} |= "bar" [1h]) - sum_over_time({app="foo"} |= "foo" | unwrap foo [1h])`,
 			maxQuerierBytesSize: 100,
 
-			err:                      fmt.Sprintf(limErrQuerierTooManyBytesTmpl, "500 B", "100 B"),
+			err:                      fmt.Sprintf(limErrQuerierTooManyBytesShardableTmpl, "500 B", "100 B"),
 			expectedStatsHandlerHits: 2,
 		},
 		{
@@ -248,7 +248,7 @@ func Test_astMapper_QuerySizeLimits(t *testing.T) {
 			query:               `count_over_time({app="foo"} |= "foo" [1h]) - sum_over_time({app="bar"} |= "bar" | unwrap foo [1h])`,
 			maxQuerierBytesSize: 100,
 
-			err:                      fmt.Sprintf(limErrQuerierTooManyBytesTmpl, "500 B", "100 B"),
+			err:                      fmt.Sprintf(limErrQuerierTooManyBytesShardableTmpl, "500 B", "100 B"),
 			expectedStatsHandlerHits: 2,
 		},
 	} {